WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeals to Sweden’s Supreme Court

Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August. Photo: Reuters

Stockholm: Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have filed an appeal to Sweden's Supreme Court seeking to quash the 2010 warrant for his arrest on accusations of rape and molestation.

Mr Assange's lawyer Per Samuelsson said he lodged the appeal with Sweden's top court on Wednesday afternoon to end the stand-off.

The Australian remains holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid arrest and extradition, while Swedish prosecutors refuse requests he be questioned there.

"We have to end this - the situation is completely stalled, and that's the point we raised in our appeal," Mr Samuelsson said in criticising what he called the "total passivity" of prosecutors who he said "have done nothing in four years".

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With the law requiring judges to decide if they are legally competent to accept the appeal, Mr Samuelsson said "the Supreme Court now has the ball".

The arrest warrant was issued in 2010 by Swedish prosecutors investigating a case based on one woman accusing Assange of rape and another alleging sexual molestation.

Mr Assange, 43, refused to return to Sweden to refute the charges he adamantly denies on fears Stockholm would extradite him to the US to be tried for his role in WikiLeaks' publication of huge stores of classified diplomatic, military and intelligence documents.

In 2012, he sought refuge in Ecuador's British embassy to avoid arrest and likely forced extradition to Sweden.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeals to Sweden's Supreme Court